didgeri-douze report

Allison and I got back to Toronto at about 12:30 am this morning, bleary-eyed but happy...what a great UK adventure! Jodi is still there, doing business meetings. I am probably going to be spending most of today in bed; I got a cold near the end of the trip and it got gradually worse. Jodi caught it first; I'm hoping she's doing okay...Phil and Lissa have it, too.

Allison's working on a detailed con report. Didgeri-Douze was amazingly fun; many, many congrats to the concom: Phil and Lissa Allcock, Tim & Annie Walker, and Smitty. Everyone went out of their way to make us feel welcome...it was tough saying good-bye to so many new friends at the end. Wonderful to see some familiar faces such as Phil & Lissa, Dave Clement, Bill and Brenda Sutton, Godfrey Joseph (I hadn't seen him in about ten years!), Talis Kimberly, Rika Körte, Katy and Ju. I got meet meet Fox in person for the first time (Talis introduced us in email shortly after she was GoH at FilKONtario several years ago). It was a special pleasure to hear Phoenix (Lissa & Phil Allcock, Anne & Mike Whitaker, Annie & Tim Walker) live in concert; theese folks are AMAZING. Wow...my cheeks hurt so much by the end of the concert because I couldn't stop smiling (did a lot of yelling and screaming, too, especially when Tim did his Elvis impersonation). Great to meet some others who have posted recently in Blatherchat, like Anke and Chris and Teddy.

Loads of talent at this convention....more details in Allison's report. Very cool to meet (and hear!) Chris Conway in person; he opened the convention minutes after arriving with a splendiferous concert set (I've never seen anyone play TWO PENNY WHISTLES at the same time so well!!!). Other fun concert sets: B&B (Paul Bristow & Dan Bennett), Talis, Just Playin' Folk (Zander Nyrond, Valerie Housden, Magician (Chris O'Shea), Fiddler Rachel (Rachel Shurmer)), Lawrence Dean, Patchwork (Minstrel/Chris Malme, Neil Chambers, Martin & Andy GK/Gordon-Kerr), Brian Biddle (the UK GoH), Erica Neely & Phil Allcock ("Erica and Phil's Depression Session"), Phoenix, Dave Clement, Taking The Mic (Mike & Alison Richards, Rick Hewett, Miki), plus the main concert consisting of 1- and 2-song shorter sets.

Our main concert and children's concert seemed to go over pretty well; everyone was having lots of fun (I know we did). :-) Wow, what a responsive audience!!!! We closed with the Neurotic Love Song and got a standing ovation, did Tom Jeffer's "Gone Filkin'" as an encore. Open filking was also lots of fun. Okay, so maybe IT WAS *ALL* way too much fun. :-) :-) Lots more details in Allison's report, and I'll be adding tons of comments as well. I suspect I'll also be blathering about special highlights for weeks to come (between jet lag, post-con blues, and illness, my brain is not quite all here right now, so forgive my incoherence).

Going to unpack and recover...

didgeri-douze

I'm writing this from Phil and Lissa's place (we're in the UK until Friday).
Had an INCREDIBLE time at Didgeri-Douze...Allison will be writing a report
when we get back. Lots of extremely talented folks, and everyone made us
feel super-welcome. Enjoyed hearing many UK filkers and groups live for the
first-time, including Phoenix (wow!!! my cheeks were in pain by the end of
their concert, I was smiling so much). We're going to go to London to do
some sightseeing tomorrow.

BY THE WAY, we got a great kick out of reading the bios that some of you
sent in for the program book (you know who you are). We will also have to
seek our revenge on some of you (I hope you're all coming to FKO >:-)).
More later...

sent my book!

Woohoo! I couriered off my book manuscript today. (For those of who
are confused, this mss is THE WRITER'S ONLINE MARKETPLACE, to be published
by Writer's Digest Books this October...please do buy it when it comes out
so I can get some chocolate!)

And double woohoo...my sister Ruth has been
nominated for the Amelia Francis Howard Gibbon Illustration award!

Sorry for the short blather, but I'm trying to get as much work done as I
can before taking off tomorrow for the UK. I checked a couple of websites
re: London weather, but they are all in Farenheit...it's been so long since
I've thought in Farenheit that I don't know how to translate it anymore!

There is no chocolate in the office and I wracked by a terrible craving.

I'll try to post in Blatherchat while we're gone. YAYYYYYYYYYY, only a few days
'til Digeri-Douze! Allison, Jodi and I had a ton of fun rehearsing for
our concert last week...probably too MUCH fun. :-)

Talk to you all in a couple weeks...

numb

Things are so incredibly hectic right now that I can't even begin to explain. :-) Part of me has grown numb to all of it, to tell you the truth; it's the only way to stay sane. Amanda's a gem; she brought a Partridge Family Greatest Hits CD to the office today...nothing like pumping up "I Can Feel Your Heartbeat" to help the panic ease away somewhat (and keep my brain from exploding).

Got a visit from the property management office and some business development people from the City of Toronto council...apparently Mayor Mel Lastman and some others wanted to come visit me in the office next Friday, as part of a tv show about new media. Of course, I'm not going to be IN the office next Friday (I'm going to be partying at Didgeri-Douze), so I had to decline. Still, kind of flattering that they approached me.

Allison's plane tickets still haven't arrived. :( :( We're hoping they arrive soon (Jodi's arrived a long time ago!) else we'll have to apply for a re-issue, involving much hassle and an admin fee.

Heavy-duty practice with Allison and Jodi tonight...our last get-together before the DD! We're trying to figure out how we're going to get some of the props into our luggage...the inflatable ten foot chocolate bar is going to be especially tricky.

Hey, Access Internet called to say that had reviewed me (four stars, woohoo!). Click on the link to see the review.

Only kidding about the inflatable chocolate bar.

MESSAGE FOR ALL YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE POND:

So Allison, Jodi and I would appreciate any advice, so we don't feel so much like a foreigner when we're over visiting! Any British words or phrases we should know? Tips on how not to tick off the locals? What kind of food should we have? What kind we SHOULDN'T have? Any help appreciated. Please post your comments in blatherchat.

pizza angst

Sunday night dinner at my sister's...Annie and Sara are super-excited to see us. They barely touch dinner and then wait impatiently for Jeff and I to finish so the Fun Can Begin. Annie bounces up and down in the living room, chanting, "Uncle Debbie Uncle Debbie Uncle Debbie can you play with me? Uncle Debbie Uncle Debbie" (she's gotten into the habit of calling me that now, a private joke between us). Sara changes into her gym outfit and excitedly waits, declaring, "I'm going to TIRE YOU OUT, Uncle Jeff!"

I'm almost finished, and Annie comes up to stand by my chair. "Are you finished yet, Uncle Debbie?" she asks. "One more piece," I tell her, wanting to talk some more with Ruth. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Annie's eyes glued to the remaining piece of pizza on my plate, waiting patiently. Unable to take the pressure, I stop talking and shove the piece into my mouth.

Annie beams and grabs my hand, pulls me into the living room. As I find a comfortable spot on the couch, Annie is already thrusting a picture book into my hands. She clambers up beside me, leaning against me.

I like being an aunt. :-)

EIGHT DAYS 'til I leave for the UK. A brief panic on this side...my plane tickets hadn't arrived yet and the travel agent told me they were probably lost in the mail, that I would likely have to sign a bunch of forms and pay a admin fee for new ones to be issued. But they arrived yesterday (it took over a MONTH for them to get from Winnipeg to here; Canada Post is definitely having problems).